Happy New Year
December, 2025
Letter from the Vineyard
December 31, 2025
December is slipping away, the year nearly done. Days will get longer now. The light will come, literally.
Christmas was to have been spent in New Mexico but the morning I was to leave, I got up; my back did not. I spent days managing an episode of sciatica, a word I remember hearing in my childhood, something old people dealt with. Well, I am old now; it’s something I’ve navigated a couple of times, first in the summer of 2018 when I woke up, got in the shower, experienced a kind of pain I’ve never know before. Pretty quiet until now, when it erupted and I cancelled Christmas for myself.
While I rested, the Kennedy Center was renamed the Trump – Kennedy Center, something I find offensive but not surprising. There will also be a Trump class of new warships for the Navy. The memes are amazing, several of gold plated warships caused me to guffaw, one named S.S. Bonespurs, which felt a shade dangerous with my back.
Mr. Trump also hosted the Kennedy Honors, which were the lowest rated in their history. Excuse my schadenfreude.
The Supreme Court showed a moment of spine and prevented deployment of troops in Chicago. The Supreme Court has been unprecedented in allowing presidential power to expand. FDR attempted something of the same but didn’t get as far as President Trump. Abraham Lincoln was a master.
Jeffrey Epstein does not go away. Trump said he had never been on Epstein’s plane though flight records indicate he was, more than a half dozen times, a plane known to some as “The Lolita Express.” Five million more pages to come…
Marjorie Taylor Greene was screamed at by Trump about her activism to release the files. Why, she asked. It’s going to hurt my friends, said the president, allegedly.
On Christmas Day, the U.S., in coordination with Nigeria, did precision bombing against IS enclaves in northern provinces, suspected of attacking Christians. The Nigerian government disputes Christians were uniquely targeted, saying IS doesn’t discriminate, attacking both Muslims and Christians.
Israel ranks last among countries in the Anholt Nation Brands Index [who knew there was such a thing?] Surprised?
Gaza is a festering wound. One day, I happened upon pictures of children in the West Bank, looking like Holocaust survivors.
In response, I gave to World Central Kitchen, Jose Andres’ organization for Gaza relief.
Famine is hovering over Palestine, Haiti, Sudan, South Sudan, Mali and Yemen, at least. As the year ends, think of the starving and, if you can, help out.
One of the wars Trump “ended” was between Cambodia and Thailand except it didn’t stay ended. There’ve been weeks of deadly clashes and bombings. On Sunday, the 28th, another ceasefire was declared.
While it can seem the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are riding freely across the globe, there are signs of hope. Nicholas Kristoff has an opinion piece in the December 28th edition of the New York Times in which he tries to cheer us up. I recommend reading it here.
During the days of being home there was time to ponder.
Politically, I think of myself as a centrist, modestly progressive, concerned about civil rights, grateful to have grown up in the America I did, flawed as it was, it did seem we were mostly all working toward a common, greater good.
Sorry to say, not so sure right now. However, as friends tip more to despair than hope, I find my hope rising again.
Trump is not invincible. The rise of fascism is not inevitable. It will take work and we’re capable of it. We need to believe in ourselves. I continue to take hope and find hope in the good things I see happening.
My best high school friend, Tom, works three days a week at a food bank, stretched to the max by need. This island came together to help our food bank weather the suspension of SNAP.
People go to the streets, make silly, wonderful signs, letters are written, petitions are signed, blogs are written. Write a letter, sign a petition. Partake in a march.
Now in Summerfield, FL to spend New Year’s with my sister, a newer tradition of ours. Off to see other friends in Florida and on the 10th, will set sail on a Virgin Voyages cruise, 7 days of drifting through the Caribbean, traveling with my longtime friend, Tory, who has also booked a cabin.
Let me leave you with my favorite picture of the year, Edgartown Books in her Christmas finery. I think it sings of hope.
Happy New Year! Let us go forth bravely in these troubled times.
Letter from the Vineyard 